Lewis Stevenson reveals his determination to help steer Raith Rovers to safety
Having experienced the pain of relegation once in his illustrious career with former club Hibernian after their 2013-14 campaign, veteran Raith Rovers left-back Lewis Stevenson has told of his motivation to help propel the Kirkcaldy club up this season’s William Hill Championship table.
An alarming recent form slump, culminating in Saturday’s 3-0 Fife derby defeat at Dunfermline Athletic, has seventh-placed Raith – on 30 points from 28 matches – just three points above bottom two clubs Airdrieonians and Ross County ahead of the Diamonds’ crucial visit to Stark’s Park this Saturday.
And Stevenson, 38, said: “Relegation is a horrible feeling. You can’t get much lower than getting relegated – it lasts with you for ever.
"I’ve been trying to say how much this club means to everyone. It’s not just the players that are affected – it’s the staff throughout the club.
"There are a lot of good people that work here and we can’t put them in that predicament.
"We’ll give it our all and that’s all you can really do, so it’s not going to be for lack of effort.
“We always enjoy playing at home, I think. We’re used to the surface here, maybe other teams aren’t as well.
"We’ll do our utmost. We’re a tight-knit squad and we need to show that now and knuckle down and get some results.
"We’ve had a frustrating season with injuries and stuff, all through the departments for defence, midfield and attack.
"We’ve never really had a fully-fit squad, but I’m sure every other team are in the same position.
"We’re not going to make excuses – it’s on us. We’re the ones that have got us in this problem and we’re going to try and get us out of it."
Rovers at least have a game in hand over the bottom two and third-bottom Greenock Morton, and they also have three home games in six days, with the Airdrieonians match quickly followed by Partick Thistle on Tuesday night and Ayr United next Friday.
Stevenson said: “It looks good on paper, but we’ll tell you after these three games how it’s gone.
"Like any game in this league, there’s nothing between any teams apart from maybe St Johnstone this season. You go into it and you think it’s a lottery who wins the game.”